Part
1

Somewhere
deep within the Principle Office in the center of the city, he watched as the
young woman stared at three vid windows showing the latest seconds' reports.
Not a movement of her nimble green fingers escaped him as they worked across
the windows, her violet eyes captivated him as they scanned past each report,
her bright red lips called to him as she bit them in concentration.

He
couldn't stand it any longer. That was it, she had to be HIS!

He
worked his way through the corridors around to the other side of the room where
her back was turned, with any luck, and a lot of patience, she wouldn't even
know what hit her. Slowly, he stepped out into the room she was working in, it
was quiet so he had to be careful. He crept as silently as he could to reach
his unsuspecting prey, one step after the other, inching forward. Suddenly she
raised her head as if she had heard something. He couldn't run or he would
surely be heard, so he held his breath helplessly, and listened as his heart
pounded. After a moment though, she lowered her head and went back to work, and
the hunt was on once again. As he got closer and closer, his mind raced with
thoughts of what he was going to do to her once he caught her (there were so
many possibilities!). At one point, he had to stop himself and calm the
anticipation within him, he couldn't afford to make a mistake. He continued on
at the same slow pace until he was so close he had to struggle to contain his
laughter, the ultimate prize would soon be his, and only his! One more step,
and he could take her. Then, without a warning, his arms lounged for her waist,
his teeth went for her neck....

From
outside, Hack and Slash were busy arguing if they were the same rank which of
them outranked the other, when they heard Dot scream.

"Uh,
oh!" Hack started.

"Dot's
in trouble!" Slash finished.

They
burst through the doors with every weapon that they both had (which was
considerable) primed and ready to fire.

Dot
Matrix screamed again, for the second time in as many nanoseconds, seeing their
weapons pointed directly at her. Though they were actually pointed at someone
standing right behind her.

"WHOA!
Easy there!" shouted Bob, with his arms around Dot's waist. Even before he
spoke, a force field bubble flew up around them both, just in case Hack and
Slash were feeling a bit too trigger happy.

"Oh,
it is you, Bob." said Hack.

"Oops,
we almost blew you up," continued Slash.

"That
would be bad."

"Yes,
that would be very bad."

"Then
Dot would really be mad at us."

"That
she would."

Dot
gave a deep sigh, 'Not really,' she thought, giving a sidelong glare at her
(former) beloved who lowered his shields. "I think I can handle it from
here, boys, thank you."

After
a moment's silence, "Um,... Slash?"

"Yes,
Hack?"

"I
think she means us."

"Oh....then
I believe we should leave."

"Yes!
Yes we should!"

"After
you."

"Oh,
no. After you."

"I
insist."

"You
mean it? Why thank you, Slash."

"Anytime
Hack ol' buddy."

As
the two of them argued over who would have the honor of leaving first, Bob just
shook his head and went back to blissfully nibbling Dot's neck, and murmuring
incomprehensible little things in her ear. She waited until they were gone and
then gave Bob an elbow to the ribs.

"Ow,
hey!"

"What
do you think you were doing? You scared the highlights out of me... Twice!"
she hissed at him, though she still couldn't keep the laughter out of her eyes,
or the humor from her voice. After being apart for so long, anything he did was
a blessing to her.

He
cringed back a little, he was waiting for that. "Oh, I'm sorry Dot."
he told her as sincerely as possible, "I didn't mean to scare you that
much! I was just being playful."

The
tenderness in his voice surprised her again, "Well, that wasn't exactly
what I had in mind, but if you really want me to..."

She
looked up into his big, expressive, dark-amber eyes, the love he held in them
for her shone through like flashing neon signs. What she really wanted
was to jump up and throw her arms around him and kiss him as though it were for
the first time all over again. She remembered the first time she had met him,
those eyes had taken her by surprise by triggering a surge of emotions she had
never known before. She hadn't expected to instantly know everything there was
to know about him, but in that one moment she had seen his honor, compassion,
and integrity, his unpredictable personality, lightning quick mind, and
selfless courage.

But
now, as she gazed into those same eyes, she knew that those virtues had over
time been tempered by just a hint of patience, wisdom, and nobility that only
intensified what she had originally felt. His horrible experiences in the Web
had made him into a more wonderful man than she could've ever hoped for, which
said something for his strength as well. "Oh, Bob, I wish you could stay,
but I do have work to do." She settled for a kiss on the cheek for
now. "I'll make it up to you later!" she whispered to him.

He
held her close and nuzzled her for a few moments more. "I'll make it up to
you, too," he promised, as he kissed her back, then, reluctantly, turned
and left.

Dot
watched as he walked away wishing like hell that he could stick around, even
just to keep her company, if only they could find a way to keep their digits
off each other. She giggled inwardly at this thought, if either of them had
known before that they would be so good together....

......nope,
they still would've denied it!

Oh,
well she figured. In any case, she wasn't going to stay
here long herself. She had to get to Beverly Hills to talk with a few new
business associates, so she clipped her organizer to her belt and headed
outside too.

Bob
took off on a zip-board towards the diner, which was where Enzo was most likely
to be. Once he got there, he noticed Frisket blocking the entrance as usual, so
he figured either Enzo or Matrix was inside. With a quick scan he realized that
it was indeed young Enzo, which would make risking a run-in with Frisket worth
it. Bob silently tried to step over him, but was stopped with a growl.

"Missed
you too." said Bob. He wasn't worried, though, he simply created a portal
to the other side of the Diner's doorway and resisted the urge to turn and say
"HA!"

No
sooner had he materialized when he heard a young voice shout "BOB!!",
so he flew his arms out wide and, with a big grin, happily shouted back
"ENZO!!" as the boy tackled him.

"I
don't think so." Bob interrupted him with a wicked grin, "But, I could
teach you how to do this...." And suddenly, he jumped up and
flipped Enzo over and started tickling him frantically and pretending to beat
him up.

By
now, Bob had Enzo in a headlock and they both looked up at him with glares of
disappointment. "You never let me have any fun," said Bob, as he
released the boy. "C'mon, Enzo, let's take this outside."

Just
as they got up, though, they heard an all too familiar ring, along with the
voice saying "WARNING: INCOMING GAME. WARNING: INCOMING GAME."

Bob
looked up to see where it was going to land, Beverly Hills, he realized. Then
he turned toward Enzo saying "Sorry, bud, we'll have to finish this later.
Stay here." as he took off at a run out the door.

From
inside the diner all they could hear was, "AH!"-- *THUD*--
GRRRRR!--"Uh, oh....", as Bob tripped over an unsuspecting Frisket.

Dot
heard the warning as well, and was now VERY sorry she had sent Bob away because
the game was directly over her now. If no one else made it into the game she
would just have to take care of it herself. After the game descended, Dot found
herself in a rather large bedroom. She couldn't help but marvel at the game's
level of detail, everything from the tiny engravings in the back of the silver
hairbrush on the huge vanity, to each brushstroke on the paintings in the
corner made by someone named 'Picasso'. This was obviously the room of someone
very high class.

'Why
don't I have a room like this?' she wondered, only half-seriously.

Well,
enough gawking, she decided, and she hit her icon and
rebooted. She then looked down at herself and was shocked! No longer was she
her normal green color, now she was a kind of pale peach-tan. What an odd
skin color, she thought. Turning to face the vanity she saw in the mirror
that her hair was a light copper color and her eyes were now green.

On
the other hand, the red gown she was wearing was the most stunning thing she
had ever seen, let alone wore! It was accentuated with lace and sequin patterns
over every inch of it. The detail on it was even more impressive than the
scenery. (And it didn't look half bad on her either.)

Then
she remembered that this was a game, and that she had to win. She had no
idea if any of the others had made it inside. If not, it was up to her and she
wasn't going to let this sector down. Since the room left her no clue as to
what kind of game this was, or of the User's objective, she opened the door
slowly, and carefully began exploring.

Bob
scanned the game while limping down a corridor, he had just barely managed to
get away from Frisket and port himself over before the game landed. He suddenly
stopped as he sensed Dot within the game. He started to panic, if anything
happened to her, he wouldn't know what to do, or how to live! He had to find
her!

What
he had to do was calm down. Dot's a big girl, she's proven that she can take
care of herself. But he couldn't help it, he loved her! (it felt so good to
finally be able to say so!) And he didn't know this game, he'd never seen the
likes of it before, didn't know how dangerous it was. He decided to reboot and
find out.

Before
he could, though, two game sprites burst through a door into the corridor from
what sounded like a loud party. An adult male and a female, obviously a couple,
laughing and holding hands. Bob realized they were AI game sprites, like
AndrAIa. He didn't know where they were heading, (he had a pretty good idea though.)
but they were wearing simple clothes, and they even looked a little drunk. They
continued down the corridor away from him and, still laughing, turned the
corner and disappeared.

"Oh....kay!"
he said to himself. These games kept getting weirder all the time...not that
there was anything wrong with that! But it certainly made things more
interesting!

He
rebooted before anyone else could interrupt him, and took one look down at
himself. "Eugh! What an ugly color!" he said as he examined his
hands, which were now the same pale peach-tan as the two game sprites he had
seen. His hair was now a dark brown, and he too was dressed in an easy outfit.
'Oh well,' he thought, 'there's nothing I can do about it now. Let's get down
to business'

Speaking
of businesses, he realized, what was Dot doing in
Beverly Hills?

Dot
wandered through the corridors and rooms, still impressed at the lavish
details. There didn't seem to be much danger at all since all of the game
sprites, AI she had figured out, were just strolling through and talking to
each other. All of them were dressed as high-class ladies in gowns, and
gentlemen in suits, some of the gentlemen even tipped their hats to her in
greeting as they passed her. What was most interesting about them, was that
they all had roughly the same skin color as she now had. It would have been
nice, she thought, to have a little variety at least, perhaps some browns, or a
bit of reds, maybe a splash of yellow here and there. As it was, the only
variation was a difference in hair color, and that too seemed somewhat limited.

What
really troubled her, was that she still had no idea what she was supposed to do
here, she didn't even know where to find the User, or if she'd even recognize
him if she saw him. Again, Dot wished that Bob was there, he would know what to
do, otherwise, she felt like she was just wasting time.

She
wandered until she found a doorway out of which she could see what looked like
sunlight. She walked through and was surprised to find herself on a floating
city, a ship on a huge body of water. From the balcony she now stood on she
could look down on the deck of the largest, most amazing boat she had ever
seen, it seemed to stretch out forever towards the back. With a brisk wind in
her face, she stood and tried to take in her surroundings.

Bob
knew exactly what he had to do, he just didn't like it. First and foremost, he
had to find Dot, if he was right, and there was no doubt at all, then everyone
here was in incredible danger. If he was going to do this, and he had no choice
but to, then Dot had to be with him. There was no chance he was going to
make her go through this alone, and even still, he was terrified for her
safety.

He
had somehow managed to find the top deck and was searching through the people
for her. How was he supposed to find anyone, he wondered, when everyone looked
the same! He knew he wouldn't find her in her usual gorgeous jade skin and
violet eyes, but they would need to blend in to win this game. He was also
beginning to feel out of place here, on his way up through the decks the game
sprites had changed from simple passengers to high-class citizens who were now
giving him odd looks. They couldn't afford to be spotted by the User, or for
any of these game sprites to let him in on where they were, but he would risk
just about anything to find Dot right now.

Then,
he found her, standing on a balcony looking out on the ship. He would have
recognized her no matter what she looked like, just by the way she stood. The
way her delicate hands rested on the railing in front of her, the warm and
caring expression on her gentle face, and her head held high with a proud and
undeterrable spirit in her eyes, all of the things he had always loved about
her. But she was so beautiful in that moment, that even if he had never met her
before, he would have instantly fallen in love with her right then and there.

He
took an eager step towards her, when a hand reached out and grabbed him by the
shoulder and started pulling him away. "Alright, you! Back down to the lower
decks where you belong!"

"No,
wait!" Bob told the game sprite in the uniform, "I need to talk to
someone!"

"Yeah,
right! I'm sure you have a lot of appointments to keep." he responded with
a hint of sarcasm.

Bob
was considering beating him off and escaping; he couldn't afford to lose Dot
again. But he also couldn't afford to make a bigger scene than he already was,
so he calmly allowed the officer to drag him away, he found her once, he could
find her again.

"What
do you think you're doing?!" they heard behind them, they both turned to
see an angry Dot. "How dare you! Let go of him this instant!" she
said in her most demanding tone.

The
officer turned pale with horror so fast Bob almost burst out laughing,
"Um.. uh,.. y-yes ma'am. of-of course ma'am. my deepest apologies!"
he stuttered as he released his hold of Bob, tipped his hat to the two of them,
and ran away as fast as he could.

Dot
Matrix to the rescue! Bob thought to himself, as she practically
ran into him, almost knocking him over Enzo-style. "Oh, Bob, you did make
it through!" Dot murmured as she held him. She hadn't realized until now
how worried she had been, unable to figure out this game. But now that he was
here, she knew they were safe, she always felt safe when she was with him. She
suddenly pushed away from him -- only enough so that she could reach up and
kiss him just as quickly.

Although
a bit surprised, he nonetheless returned her kiss, he pulled her to him once
again as he savored the feel of her body against his. After what seemed like a
heavenly eternity their kiss ended, and Bob allowed himself a few nanos more to
simply hold her in his arms, relieved that they had found each other on such an
awesome ship. But as he looked at the other passengers, who were apparently
appalled at their little display, he realized that they didn't have much time.

"Dot,"
he said quietly, interrupting her own reverie, "we have to find a place
where we can plan out this game."

"Do
we have to?" she sighed

"Do-ot."
he called.

"Okay,
okay. Um...I know of a place." So she took him by the arm and led him back
to where she had just come from. Along the way, Bob noticed that the passengers
were indeed very segregated, the high-class people in the upper decks with the
lower-class towards the bottom. Fortunately most of the Binomes caught in the
game seemed to be hanging out with the rich folk. But he wondered why he and
Dot were playing such different game characters, all of the others were still
looking at him as if to say 'What is THAT doing here?'. Dot didn't seem to
mind, though, she walked proudly alongside him like he was wearing a tux of
pure gold.

Back
in "her" room, Bob was just as amazed as she had been when she had
first seen it. "This is amazing!" he was saying, "None of the
lower decks have such beautiful details, I've never seen anything like it! And
that dress...!" he told her.

"I
know!" she replied as she turned to show him. "But this corset is
killing me!"

"You've
got a corset under there?" this game was even more complex than he
thought. "Why? It's not like you need it," he added.

She
gave him that dreamy look he'd been aiming for. Well, in that case, she
secretly thought to herself, would you mind helping me...never mind.
"So, tell me about this game." she requested instead.

"Right,"
he sighed as his face fell, as if what he knew disturbed him greatly, "The
User is an international operative who received an anonymous tip that someone
is going to sabotage this ship, and make it look like an accident."

"And
we're the saboteurs?" she asked. That didn't sound too complicated.
"Well, what kind of sabotage are we talking about?"

"The
total kind, I'm afraid." he answered. "What we have to do, is
basically sink the RMS Titanic, and everyone on it," he then looked
down towards the floor, "including ourselves."